Customer Reviews

Gravity's Fatal Attraction: Black Holes in the Universe (Scientific American Library Series)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have a technical degree, and I have also read very many popular science books. This is without a doubt one of best. It does not shy away from including most of more technical aspects of astrophysics and yet at the same time it explains them clearly and with beautiful illustrations. If your interested in the math this book is obviously not for you, but if want to understand the physics behind the math then grab this book as fast as you can.

I do not hesitate to give this one five stars. This book is worth every cent and more that I paid for it; I am reading it for the third time. I have never run across a book on this subject that covers as much ground as this one does with explanations that are as lucid. I have recommended it to many, and will continue to do so. The quality of writing is marvelous, and the organization of the topics is first-rate. Clearly, the authors spent a lot of time with this one, and they did it right! Good work, guys.

If your interested in learning about Black Holes, the conditions that create them and our overall understanding of their effect on galactic evolution then look no further. Mitchell Begelman and Martin Rees do an outstanding job at presenting this material. Everything is covered here including how Black Holes were first theorized, how they were first discovered, the preconditions required for formation, and the current methods used to detect them. This latest edition covers the most recent discoveries including definitive proof that our own Milky Way harbors a massive black hole at its center.

Black Holes have quickly become one of the most popular fields in astronomy and cosmology and books on this subject aren't nearly as rare as they used to be. With that being said this is easily the best book I have read yet on this subject. If your even remotely interested in learning about Black Holes then this is where you want to start.

5 Stars!!

I am defending my PhD thesis on black holes this spring. I bought this book for many of my relatives this holiday season.

For the science-loving, non-expert reader, this book is an excellent, intelligent and extremely up-to-date introduction to astrophysical black holes. The authors have done a phenomenal job of explaining the current scientific understanding of black holes, with hardly any math at all.
The book is filled to the brim with the cutting-edge hypotheses and observational evidence. The lucid explanations are accompanied by numerous colorful and informative illustrations and figures. Many of the pictures are adapted or taken directly from the most influential academic articles of the last 10 years. The authors also give brief sketches of the people behind the science, from Albert Einstein (whom everybody knows) to current leaders in the field such as Roger Blandford, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez (of whose work and names every astrophysicist --- but almost no one else --- knows).

I would also recommend this book to any interested college student or advanced high school student, as well as to interested teachers. I've taught physics and astronomy to students at those levels and given public lectures on black holes, and am always thinking about how to talk to non-experts about black holes. I've encountered few teachers and professors who could explain the subject better than Drs. Begelman and Rees have done in this book.

For any undergraduate or beginning graduate student considering doing astronomy or astrophysics for a living, I can't think of a more comprehensive or accessible overview of black holes.

Excellent book in time and condtion as mentioned. I like reading it it is very informative. It is good for basic understanding

This reference provides the general reader with a good overview of gravity, stars, black holes, and galaxies.